‘A Serious Man’ is seriously impressive

Sibling directing duo Ethan and Joel Coen can make a camera sing. Their attention to detail, their wit and their ability to adapt almost any work into a Coen creation sets them apart from most writer/director/producer teams. With films like “Raising Arizona,” “Fargo,” “The Big Lebowski” and “No Country for Old Men,” the Coens have established a record of not just quality filmmaking, but of masterful storytelling. With their latest release, “A Serious Man,” available now on BD, it’s obvious the Coens still have the Midas touch.

The story centers on Prof. Lawrence “Larry” Gopnik (Michael Stuhlbarg). He is your average Jewish man, living his regular, mundane life, when a series of events begins to pull apart the fabric of his life. After one of his physics students claims his tests are unfair, Larry finds a mysterious envelope containing a large amount of cash. And since Larry is up for tenure at his school, he has cause to be worried.

At home, his wife Judith (Sari Lennick) is asking Larry for a divorce and has even enlisted her new boyfriend, Sy Ableman (Fred Melamed) to come talk to Larry about the “arrangements.” His daughter, Sarah (Jessica McManus) is constantly going out to some teen hangout and stealing money to fund a nose job. His brother, Arthur (Richard Kind), is staying with him until he gets back on his feet and seems to always be in the bathroom draining a boil or cyst on the back of his neck. And his marijuana-smoking teen son, Danny (Aaron Wolff) is constantly hounding him about fixing the antenna so he can watch “F-Troop.”

After seeking the advice of three different rabbis, Larry finds no peace. Instead, he finds more doubt as his life appears to spiral out of control, despite his ability to adapt to all the changes.

The BD treatment for this disc is outstanding. The colors are vivid and the sound quality is outstanding. Much like previous Coen films, the attention to detail brings the fictional to life.

EXTRAS

There’s not a ton of bonus features on this BD, but what they have works. Here’s what you’ll find:

• Becoming Serious: This is an absolutely outstanding featurette that takes the movie on, piece by piece, in case you had problems wrapping your mind around the film. The Coens are funny and insightful. Doesn’t take the place of a good commentary track, but until they start cranking them out in future reissues, this will have to work.

• Creating 1967: Often in movies, what you see isn’t always what’s really there. It will amaze you to know how much of the world had to be recreated for this film. The Coens’ attention to detail shines through as you get a glimpse of the production design, wardrobe, props, etc. The Coens pay such close attention to detail that even shoe laces don’t get looked over.

• Hebrew and Yiddish for Goys: There are lots of Hebrew and Yiddish terms throughout the film. So this tongue and cheek feature works to solve any misunderstandings for many of us who don’t know much about the terminology. Good stuff!

There have been a few Coen Brothers’ films that haven’t done really well (“The Lady Killers,” “Intolerable Cruelty,” “Burn After Reading”), but don’t go counting this one among them. If you think you might have a handle on where they got the source material for this, I’ll simply say that it’s just a “job” they had to do (hint, hint). “A Serious Man” deserves serious attention. After all, it was nominated for Best Picture this year.

Oh, by the way, don’t be confused by the opening sequence. They made up their own Jewish folk tale. It will all make sense when you watch the film.